Ion Cutelaba vs Phelipe Lins Prediction: the Hulk Has Already Scared His Opponent

On the evening of October 8th, the UFC Vegas 80 tournament will take place in Las Vegas. In one of the preliminary card bouts, Moldovan fighter Ion Cutelaba will share the octagon with Brazilian Phelipe Lins. The fight will take place in the light heavyweight division. 

Last year, Moldovan knockout artist Ion Cutelaba had a black streak - three fights and three defeats. The saddest thing is that all three losses were early - two in the first round. If you dig a little deeper, the picture is depressing - out of seven fights, he won only one.

Why he wasn't fired is unclear. Cutelaba got another chance and finally used it - in April this year, he finished Tanner Boser and did it spectacularly. From the beginning, Ion started to beat his opponent like a punching bag until the referee stopped him three minutes later. And the referee should have done it earlier - the last few dozen punches to the head were definitely unnecessary.

The 38-year-old Brazilian seems to have been exhausted and sacrificed. This is the same guy who lost to Andrei Arlovski three years ago and was knocked out by Boser but then rebounded with three straight wins.

In his last bout, Lins beat Maxim Grishin by decision, and that decision was surprising, to say the least. The fight was incredibly dull, and few people made it to the end. For those who fell asleep, the guys stood at the net the entire time, and Grishin landed twice as many punches. If we had to give someone a defeat here, it would be both of them.

Phelipe is a very comfortable opponent for Ion and suits his style. There's not much to predict here. The bout will probably be similar to the previous Hulk performance. He will rush into the fight from the very first seconds and sweep the veteran. We don't think Lins will withstand such a turn of events.